December, 2009

It is possible the pace of short sales will continue at a faster clip as the federal government is now creating new incentives to move these transactions along. Last month, the Treasury Department released a plan to help homeowners relocate and to make payments to loan servicers as an incentive to accept a short sale.

It appears that the home remodeling business is starting to feel more hopeful as business started to pick up all across the country. The National Association of Home Builders puts together what it calls a remodeling market index, which is basically an assessment of how contractors feel their business is going and whether they are getting new work. That index has been on the rise in recent months after several months in the doldrums.

What’s behind the upturn after hitting bottom in the summer? That’s hard to say for sure, but may have something to do with the fact that the federal government is offering a $1500 tax-credit for energy-related improvements.

In the Northeast, the biggest home sales by price class this year is still for homes in the $100,000 to $250,000 range. Compared to October of last year, properties sold in that price range increased by nearly 33%, and that’s way up even from the numbers of the excellent summer market, so we’re really seeing a superb autumn market in this region. For properties in the $250,000 to $500,000 there’s been a rise of 18% over last year. In fact, it’s only in the $750,000 to 1-million range that we’ve seen any decline and that was only by 3%.

In the Midwest, there’s been great gains in the under $250,000 market. Over half the increases In October 2009 were in this category, with 41% of them in the $100,000 to $250,000 mark. This could certainly be a sign of first time buyers and qualified renters entering into the market to snap up some of the bargains that have been floating around.

In the South during the previous months, the hot money has been on properties priced below $100,000 but we’ve seeing a big increase in sales priced up to $250,000 from October of last year. In fact, properties priced below $100,000 and from $100,000 to $250,000 both showed a jump of 25% from October 2008.

Out West the market is still very busy — nothing like the astounding 100% plus rises we saw over the summer — but a much more even spread across price brackets, with prices from up to $100,000 and from $100,000 to $250,000 both showing over 20% rises from last October. The middle range of $250,000 to $500,000 is the only place where we saw a slight falling off, just over 4% down from last year, but then everything after that has seen a noticeable rise so it could be that the luxury end of the market is also finally seeing some resurgence.

So even though we’re well into autumn and heading full steam for the winter market, Octobers figures have proved to be hot, hot, hot with more selling in more price brackets. It should be interesting to see how the expanded tax credit affects the market in the coming months as repeat buyers enter the field.

One pretty obvious reason is that there is less competition than in summer, as some people will put off their hunt, particularly in colder climates.

All this could put you in the driver’s seat if you are a serious shopper. For one thing, with fewer buyers out looking, homes move more slowly so it is a better time to negotiate the asking price down — if someone really needs to sell and not as many people are seeing the house, they might be tempted to accept an offer below their asking price. Not only might they be willing to haggle over price. They also might be more willing to give concessions for paint or carpeting and they may also be more flexible on a closing date.

In winter, lenders are also less busy because they also have fewer people coming to them for home loans. With less on their plate, it is possible to expect that you’ll get more personal attention, as the process moves towards settlement.

Looking at homes in winter is definitely different. But that can be a good thing, too. For one thing, you might notice that a particular house is drafty, which is something you wouldn’t notice if you were looking at the same property in July. Drafts are an indication that the house might need new windows or that there are leaks that will need to be identified and sealed. Be sure to check the thermostat while you are in there. If it is set low and the house is still comfortably warm, it is probably well-insulated, which is a great thing to know. On the flip side, if the thermostat is high and it is not comfortable, that house will probably need insulation and may have exceptionally high heating bills.

On the subject of heating and cooling — one problem that arises in winter is that you won’t know whether the air conditioning system is in perfect working condition when the temperature outside is, well, so cold you won’t be able to test. Make sure to negotiate with the seller to set aside some money in an escrow account for repairs, should you need to do some work. If it does work perfectly, then the escrow attorney can return the money.

Your market might not be affected by weather in the winter months, but if you’re in an area that’s warm and balmy all year round, there are still some solid reasons to think about house hunting in the winter months. One, is the school year: Many families with school-age children often wait late spring or early summer, to start their house hunting. So, shopping now could possibly eliminate that entire array of potential competitors.

That’s also true in an area with a large college complex nearby. Teachers, professors, staff and all sorts of other people connected to the campus might just wait it out over the winter months, so again, if you start actively shopping now, you might avoid that group of competitors as well.

It all comes down to thinking carefully about when you’ll have the biggest advantages as a buyer. And in many parts of the country, the hottest time to house hunt might just be in the middle of winter.

Radiant heaters give off rays of heat from a hot surface. Like the sun, the rays radiate through the room, gently warming surfaces such as furniture, people, floors and walls, which in turn reflect heat back into the air around them. Radiators and open fires as the most common examples of a radiant heater, and these are a good choice for rooms with high ceilings, poor insulation, open-plan design or unavoidable drafts.

Convection heaters heat air which then circulates through the room, usually with the help of a fan. Basically it’s the forced air kind of heating that comes from your HVAC, and this is the most common type of heating we have here in America. But this method isn’t perfect for all situations; it works best in rooms with good insulation, few drafts and average-height ceilings.

Insulation is one of the most important things you want to think about in the winter months. Having a warm, cozy house throughout the winter is mostly about capturing or creating warmth, then taking measures to ensure it doesn’t immediately dissipate. To retain maximum heat during winter, and actually to help keep cool in summer, home insulation is one of the best solutions. Although insulation can be expensive to install, it’s been shown to help to lower energy consumption by up to 40% and therefore reduce ongoing energy bills. And don’t forget, there’s currently a $1500 tax credit for installing insulation in your primary residence, but you’ve only got until December 31st, to do so. To find out the full details on that program, have a look at www.energystar.gov

Here are a few other things you can do to keep cozy:

• The effect of the chill winds outside can be reduced by putting draft sealing around windows and doors, or at least placing a few draft stoppers or those stuffed cloth snakes at the foot of external doors.
• Change your window treatments. If you have nice, light curtains that are great in the summer, you might want to swap them out for some heavy or lined curtains, and draw them as soon as the sun goes down.
• Create heat zones within your house. Only heat rooms which are occupied; close the vent or turn down the radiator in the spare room and close doors to rooms that aren’t being used as this helps keep heat in the area where it’s most needed.
• If you’ve just got a small area that you want to heat, or you want to add a little more punch on a really cold day, you might look at a space heater. These are the little personal heaters that you can plug in, in different rooms, and can be fan based, convection based or a combination of the two. Keep in mind, though: even though space heaters are effective, they can be very costly to run, so only use them when you really need them.

Whatever way you choose to heat your house, you can always bury yourself in a comforter with a mug of hot chocolate and enjoy that fuzzy feeling. Winter doesn’t have to be so bad after all.